Feed-regulating device for electric motors.



3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED AUG. 8, 1905.

s. W. WILLIAMS.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 1. 1903.

FEED RBGULATING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS.

PATENTED AUG. 8, 1905.

S. W. WILLIAMS.

FEED RBGULATING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS.

APPLIOATION TILED JUNE 1. 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 7,.

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PATENTED AUG. 8, 1905.

S. W. WILLIAMS. FEED REGULATING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1. 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

lf///////////A///l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SEWARD WV. WILLIAMS, OF LAPEER, MICHIGAN.

FEED-REGULATING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SEWARD W. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lapeer, in the county of Lapeer, State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed-Regulating Devicesfor Electric Motors; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a controller-feedregulating device forelectric motors especially designed for use on street-cars; and itconsists in the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter fullyset forth, and pointed out particularly in the claims.

The objects of the invention are to provide simple and efficient meansfor regulating the controller-feed, so as to obviate overfeeding themotors, the arrangement being such as to prevent the feeding of morethan one point at atime in ordinary running, compelling a slight pausebetweeneach point to enable the motor to properly take up the current,to provide for affording three points upon the reverse of'themotor foremergency, to provide for locking the operative lever which regulatesthe feed of the current-controller when the car is not in use, and toprovide for quickly throwing off the current by a single movement of thelever.

The above objects are attained by the structure illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of thecontroller-feed-regulating mechanism, part of the case in which part ofsaid mechanism is located being removed, as well as one of the sideplates of the operative lever, to'show the position of the operativeparts. Fig. 2 is an elevation with one of the outer plates only of thecase removed. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the complete apparatus. Fig. 4 isa fragmentary View in detail, showing by dotted lines the movement ofthe locking and releasing dogs.

' Fig. 5 is a horizontal section as on line 5 5 of 1. Fig. 6 is avertical section as on line 6 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is an enlarged detailin section of the parts which control the movement of thelocking-plunger. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view in elevation, showing themovable locking pawl and the rack segments Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed June 1, 1903. Serial No. 159.459.

Patented Aug. 8, 1905.

adapted to be engaged thereby. Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view inperspective of the device for locking the lever against movement. Fig.10 is a transvere section through the parts of said lock, showing thekey in engagement therewith.

Referring to the characters of reference, 1 designates the top of anordinary controllerbox in which is located the controller, by means ofwhich the current is fed to the motor, which parts are of the ordinaryconstruction and need not be described herein.

Instead of the ordinary rotatable handle by means of which thecontroller-statf is actuated to feed the current to the motor there 15employed in this apparatus a beveled gear-2, fixed to the upper end'ofsaid staff 3 above the top of the controller-box.

Located upon the top 1 and secured by suitable screws 4, as shown, is acase 5, having a central partition 6, which divides the interior of thecase and forms between its faces and the sides of the case open spaces,in which are located some of the operative parts, as hereinafter stated.J ournaled in the open space, between the partition 6 and the side plate7 of the case, is a pinion 8, carrying a beveled gearwheel 9, whichmeshes with the gear 2 on the controller-staff. Lying in the spacebetween the plate 7 and the central partition 6 is a plate 10, carryingat its lower end the segmental rack 11, which meshes with the pinion 8.Said plate carrying said rack is pivoted at 12 within said case, and theupper portion 13 thereof extends onto and forms one side of the hollowoperative lever 14, the other side of said lever being formed by theplate 15, whose lower end is pivoted at 16 to the opposite side of thecase in transverse alinement with the pivotal point 12 of the plate 10.

Formed upon the upper edge of the central partition 6 is anupwardly-projecting semicircular portion 17, and upon the upper edge ofthe side plate 18 of the case is an upwardly-projecting semicircularportion 19, which exactly registers with the semicircular portion 17,above described. Formed in the edge of each of these semicircularportions are the notches 20 and 21, which will correspond with theindicating points of contact on the controller. Pivoted at 22 betweensaid notched semicircular portions is adownwardly-depending arm 23,having at its upper end a rack-segment 24:. Fixed to the semicircularportion 19, adjacent the rack-segment 24, is a rack-segment 25, havingthe notches 26 adjacent the notches of the rack-segment 24 and thenotches 27 spaced therefrom. Thelower end of the arm 23 depends Withinthe case and is supported normally upon the stem 28, projecting from thereversing-staff 29, adapted to be actuated through the handle 30. Whenthe arm 23 is held up by the stem of the reversing-staff, the notches 31of the segment 24 stand in a plane concentric with the notches 26 and 27on the fixed segment 25, which is the normal position when running andthe purpose of which arrangement will be hereinafter explained.

Mounted upon the outer face of the lever 14 is a reciprocatory plate 32,which is confined to move in a way formed by the inwardlyprojectingflanges 33 on said lever. Extending laterally "from the plate 32 is anear 34, through which passes the lower threaded end of the rod 35, saidrod having upon each side of said lever a threaded nut 36. The upper endof the rod 35 passes through a guide 37 and is pivoted to the smalllever 38, which is in turn pivoted at 39 to the main lever. By amovement of the lever 38 the rod 35 is actuated to raise the plate 32 tofree it from the notches in the semicircular portions 17 and 19, withwhich it is adapted to normally engage, said plate being held inengagement with said notches by means of the coiled spring 40, which ismounted upon the rod 35 and is compressed between a collar thereon andthe guide 37, through which said rod passes.

In the normal position of the parts a forward movement of the main lever14 would cause the plate 32 to engage the first notch of the series 20which it encountered and prevent a further movement of said lever untilsaid plate had been raised by an operation of the small lever 38. Toprevent the main lever from being moved ahead farther than the distanceof one notch when the plate 22 is raised past the first notchencountered, a reciprocatory plunger 41 is employed, which is locatedvertically within the main lever, its lower end passing freely through aguide 42, as clearly shown in Fig. 7, and extending normally into theplane of the notches on the fixed and movable segments 24 and 25.Attached to said plunger near its lower end is a coiledspring 43, whichis adapted to draw the lower end of said plunger forward when releasedfrom one notch, so as to insure its engagement with thesucceedingnotch.The upper end of said plunger is provided with a loop or oblong eye 44,which extends above the upper guide 45, through which said plungerpasses through said eye and is supported in suitable guides 47. Upon theplunger 41 is the coiled spring 48, which is attached at one end to acollar on said plunger and at the other end to the upper guide 45. Thetension of said spring is normally exerted to hold the plunger in araised position. Pivoted to the slide 46 is a lever 47 which isfulcrumed at 49 near its longitudinal center and is pivoted at its upperend to the rod 50, which is in turn pivoted to the small lever 38. By amovement of the small lever 38 near its fulcrum toward the large lever14 the lever 47, attached to the slide 46, will actuate said slide toretract it through the loop or eye in the plunger, allowing the spring48 to force the plunger 41 downward as the reduced or wedge-shaped endof the slide is drawn through said eye, thereby presenting the lower endof said plunger in the path of the teeth 31 and 26 upon therack-segments 24 and 25, thereby arresting a further movement of themain lever 14 upon its pivot while the small lever 38 is held inengagement, with the handle of the main lever, as shown by dotted linesin Fig. 4. it will be noted that this movement of the small lever 38which withdraws the slide from the loop of the plunger 41 simultaneouslyraises the plate 32 from engagement with the teeth 20 of the circularracks 17 and 19. By this arrangement the main lever is allowed to beoperated a notch at a time. These notches correspond with the points ofcontact in the controller, thereby preventing the current from being fedto the motor except intermittently and only a point at a time underordinary conditions.

With the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1, in which position thecurrent is entirely cut off from the motor by the controller, should themotorman desire to start his car he presses the small lever 38 againstthe handle of the main lever 14 and shoves the main lever forward untilit is arrested by the plunger 41, which engages the first notch 31 ofthe segmental rack 34, which movement actuates the controller staff tobring into service one point of contact therein. Before the main levercan be moved farther to place an additional point in service the smalllever 38 must be released, when the force of the spring 40 will move theplate 32 downwardly into engagement with the teeth 20 of thesemicircular racks 17 and 19, thereby locking the main lever frommovement and withdrawing by the same operation the plunger 41 from thefirst notch 31 of the segment 24, past which it is caused to slip as itis freed therefrom by the action of the spring 43. By again moving thesmall lever 38 forward against'the handle of the main lever the plate 32will be raised so as to free it from the notches 20, allowing the mainlever to be moved forward another notch until the plunger 41 encountersthe second notch in the segment 24, thereby actuating thecontrollerstafi to place two points in service, and so the operationcontinues by alternately moving the small lever forward againstthe-handle of the main lever and releasing it. The main lever may bemoved forward a notch at a time, thereby actuating the controller tofeed the current to the motor a point at a time. This small lever may beactuated quickly, so that the pause in the movement of the main leverneed not be of'great duration; but said pause is sufiieient to enablethe motor to take up the current as it is fed and prevent the currentbeing fed to the motor faster than it can be utilized, thereby obviatingthe burning out of the motors, as often happens.

The lirst series of teeth of notches in the semicircular racks 17 and19, as well as in the segmental racks 24 and 25, control the feeding ofthe current to the first motor. The second series of teeth in said racksand segments control the feeding of the current to the second motor. Theinterposed space between said teeth corresponds to the loop connectingthe motors.

The movement of the main lever which controls the feeding of the currentto the motor a point at a time is illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 4,wherein is shown the operation of the detent-plate 32 and the plunger41, whereby said parts are actuated simultaneously to alternately engagethe notches of their respective racks and allow the intermittentmovement of the main lever a notch at a time in the feeding of thecurrent. The arrangement of the parts is such that the main lever cannotbe actuated to place more than one point at a time of the controller inservice, owing to the fact that as the detent-plate 32 is raised fromthe notches 20 the plunger 40 is projected into the path of thesucceeding notch in the segmental racks 24 and 25, and when said plungeris withdrawn from engagement with said notches said plate is againdepressed so as to engage the succeeding notch 20 of the racks, therebypreventing excessive feeding of the current to the motor and compellinga slight pause after each additional pointis brought into service.

Electric-motor controllers of this character are provided with areversing-switch actuated the normal position of the stem 28, which.projects from the reversing-staff 29, causes the free end thereof to liewithin the slot 51 in the case under the arm 23, so as to cause thenotches of the segment 24 to stand in a plane concentric with thenotches '26 and 27 on the fixed segment 25. When the handle 30, however,is actuated to operate the reversing-switch, it is moved to-the positionshown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, thereby swinging the stem horizontallyof the slot 51 and withdrawing it from the support of the arm 23, whenthe spring 52, attached to said arm,will swing its free end downwardlyupon the fulcrum or pivot 22 and cause the notches 31 thereof to dropbelow the plane of and stand eccentric to the notches 26 and 27 of thefixed segment, as shown by dotted .lines in Fig. 1, in which position amovement of the main le-' ver 14 to feed the current to the motorthrough the operation of the controller-staff will cause the plunger 41to pass the notch 31 of the seg' ment carried by the arm 23 and engagethe third notch or the first of the notches 26,thereby giving the motorthree points at once in case of emergency. When using the reverse-switchin theordinary movement of the car about the yard, the emergency threepointsare not necessary, and therefore provision is made for locking thearm 23 in its normal position by passing a key or pin 53 throughthe sideof the case and into said arm, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, whereby themovement of the stem 28 on the reversing-staff does not effect theposition of said arm, so that the segment 24 remains unchanged in itsposition upon the reversing of the controller, and the motorman isunable to feed the current to the motor faster than a point at a timewith the ear the controller-staff is thereby held fromturn ing. For thepurpose of holding the dog raised from said notches when the main leveris in use there is employed a tripping-finger 55, which is pivoted upona shaft 56, mounted in the frame 57 within the main lever. Upon theshaft of said finger isacoiled spring whose tension is exerted toprevent a 'movement of the finger except when operated by the key 58.Projecting from one end of the dog 5a is a lateral portion 59. whichextends into the path of the tripping-finger 55, so that when saidfinger is turned to stand in the po sition shown in Fig. 9 it engagesthe dog and raises'it from the notches 20. One end of the shaft 56 issquared to receive the key 58, by means of which said shaft may beturned to release the dog by carrying the finger 55 away therefrom,allowing said dog to drop into the notches 20 and lock the lever, asbefore described.

When moving the lever to feed the current to the motor or motors, afterthe first motor has been put in service the second motor is cut in bymoving the lever still farther over until all the points or notches ofthe second series are placed in service. This movement of the lever issuch as to cause the controllerstatf to make nearly a completerevolution and is equal to one full turn of the handle which isordinarily employed upon the controller-statf. When it is desired to cutoff the current, it is only necessary to grasp the main lever and drawit quickly backward to the initial position, when the controller-staffwill be rotated back to the initial or starting point, so that theindicator will rest at naught, showing that the current is entirely offthe motor.

Having thus fully set forth my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a feed-regulating devicefor electricmotor controllers, the combination with thecontroller-staff, of a gear mounted thereon, means connected with saidgear for imparting a rotation thereto, a pivoted lever independent ofthe staff for controlling said gear-actuating means, said lever beingcapable of an intermittent movement only in one direction, whereby anintermittent rotation is imparted to the controller-staff.

2. In a feed-regulator for electric-motor controllers, the combinationwith the controller-staff, of a gear mounted thereon, a lever carrying asegmental rack which is connected with said gear, means connected withsaid lever for allowingv an intermittent movement only in one directionand for permitting a continuous movement thereof in the oppositedirection.

3. In a feed-regulator for electric-motor controllers, the combinationwith the controller-stalf, of a beveled pinion thereon, a beveled gearengaging said pinion, and carrying a spur-gear, a semicircular rackengaging said spur-gear, a pivoted lever to which said rack is secured,whereby by a movement of said lever, said gears are rotated to rotatethe pinion on the controller-staff, a circular rack having teeththereon, and a movable detect-plate carried'by the lever adapted toengage said teeth.

4. In a feed-regulator for electric-motor controllers, the combinationwith the controller-staff, of a gear on said staff, the main leverpivotally mounted independently of the staff adapted to actuate saidgear to rotate said staff by a movement of said lever, an auxiliarylever mounted upon the main lever, mechanism connected with saidauxiliary lever to regulate the motion of the main lever so as to permitonly a limited intermittent movement thereof when actuated to feed thecurrent to the motor.

5. In a feed-regulator for electric-motor controllers, the combinationwith the controller-staff, of a pivoted lever connected there with torotate said stafi by a movement of the lever upon its fulcrum, acircular rack adjacent said lever, a reciprocatory locking-plate adaptedto engage the teethof said rack, a second rack and a reciprocatoryplunger adapted to engage the teeth thereof, and means for actuating theplunger and the locking-plate simultaneously to cause themto alternatelyengage with and disengage from the teeth'of their respective racks.

6. In a feed-regulator for electric-motor controllers, the combinationwith the controller-staff, of a lever connected to and adapted to rotatesaid staff, a reciprocatory plunger in said lever, a pivoted rack havingteeth extending into the path of said plunger, an arm connected withsaid rack, a reversing-staff, a stem on said reversing-staff extendinginto engagement with said arm, whereby the teeth of the segment arenormally held in the path of said plunger but are caused to fall belowthe path of said plunger by movement to reverse the motor.

7. In a feed-regulator for electric-motor controllers, the combinationwith the controller-staff, of the lever connected with said staff torotate it, means for preventing a movement of said lever, exceptintermittently, a reversestafi, means actuated by a movement of thereverse-staff for affording three points of con tact in the controllerupon the reverse thereof.

8. In a feed-regulator for electric-motor controllers, the combinationwith the controller-stafi, of a pivoted lever adapted to actuate saidstaff by a movement of said lever upon its pivot, means interposedbetween the lever and staff for transmitting motion from the former tothe latter and means independent of the staff-actuating means forlocking said lever against movement when the car is not in service.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

I SEWARD W. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

E. S. WHEELER, P. A. HALL.

